Not all of your video games will go to gamer heaven when you die. If you leave some of them in your will, some will stay on Earth and be passed on to your next of kin.
The question of what happens to your game library when you die is still a relatively new one, brought about by our digital-only era. Not only is digital a big part of video game sales, but some stores are reportedly going to stop selling physical media like video games. This means you'll need to start thinking about passing your library on to someone else, or it may end up abandoned in a password-protected Steam account.
A Steam customer service representative told ResetEra forum user delete12345: Can not Do not transfer your Steam library to anyone else (unless you give them your account information and password, which is technically a violation of Valve's Terms of Use). When you buy a game on Steam, you are buying a license to use that game; you do not actually own a copy of that game.
But Steam isn't the only platform selling video games. Polygon reached out to Valve, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony Interactive Entertainment, GOG, Itch.io, and the Epic Games Store to ask about their respective policies. Distribution platforms GOG and Itch.io responded: “Both stores will endeavor to honor these requests if there is proper legal authorization, i.e. proof of legal transfer via will.”
A GOG spokesperson told Polygon that if there is a court order, the company is “prepared to address such situations and protect GOG's library, but at this time… [it] “We can only do that with the help of the judicial system.” This is because GOG doesn't collect a lot of personal information, making it difficult to establish a relationship between someone claiming an account and the original account owner.
Below is the full statement made by GOG after receiving several inquiries from users:
This is a particularly sensitive issue, and because very little legal guidance exists regarding video game preservation, we want to address this issue appropriately so that you and all other GOG community members can be certain of what happens to your game in the event of an unexpected event, such as death.
As you know, GOG does not collect enough information to precisely identify specific people (such as first names or surnames), their family, or marital status, so we cannot confirm if someone was related to a specific user or if a specific user has passed away.
Generally, GOG accounts and GOG content are non-transferable, except that if we can obtain a copy of a court order that explicitly grants someone a GOG personal account, along with any digital content that comes with it (taking into account the EULAs for the specific games therein), and explicitly shows your GOG username or at least the email address used to create such account, we will do our best to make that happen.
We are prepared to handle such situations and protect your GOG library, but at this time we can only do so with the help of the judicial system.
However, GOG doesn't use Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, so you can store your purchased games on an external hard drive and easily pass them on.
As for indie distribution platform Itch.io, founder Leaf Corcoran said there is no formal policy. Because Itch.io accounts are tied to email addresses, it doesn't matter if a close relative knows the account password. Itch.io won't revoke access, but if that person do not If you have access to an email address, it's a security issue unless you have “conclusive proof” that it belongs to you.
Corcoran said he doesn't believe an Itch.io user has ever contacted the company's support line to recover a deceased person's account, but the company will help if the person can prove they should have been able to access the account: “However, we believe this is a fairly unique case, so it's possible that we will do everything in our power to help the requester prove they should have been able to access the account.”
Again, that proof would likely need to be through a legal document such as a will.
Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Valve, and the Epic Games Store did not respond to Polygon's requests for comment, so we looked at their terms of service for answers. All of these companies have similar policies. Licensed games cannot be transferred. Transferring a game to another person through a will is apparently a special situation that many companies have not yet addressed. They may be willing to make exceptions if there is legal evidence of a bequest or if forced to do so by a court. GOG's end user agreement also states that you cannot share or transfer your GOG account or content, but in fact, they are willing to do so under appropriate circumstances.
One way around this issue is to include the devices on which you store your games in your will. “Digital content can be transferred to the survivors of a deceased user if a legal copy of that content is stored on a physical device, such as an iPod or Kindle e-reader,” attorney Claudine Wong wrote in the Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal in 2013. Presumably, this would also apply to laptops and video game consoles if you left them logged in or know the password. “So far, there is no dispute that devices and works fixed on them can be transferred,” Wong wrote. That said, Wong’s study is more than a decade old at this point, technology and companies have changed significantly, and information on digital estate planning is still limited.
Wong suggested that people should write these things into their wills, regardless of whether it's legal or not.[An] “An estate plan is a statement of what you want to happen after you die, and knowing what the individual wanted can give family members a more persuasive argument against service providers,” Wong said.
Putting video games in your will may sound like a joke, but as things move more online, it's a question that will continue to come up. For example, what about your TikTok account? What about your email address? Your Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store accounts are probably worth more than both. Just 20 AAA video games alone can add up to over $1,000. Your game library is also personal property that someone else may treasure. Beyond how this plays out personally, digital-only video games and their copyrights and licenses pose a big challenge for preservationists.
Either way, I hope that in 100 years, my descendants will love my gaming laptop.
